# "Ra's al Ghul" - the Arabic, not the fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105 "2005-06-20T19:53:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jdogno1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@Jdogno1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jdogno1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/21 "2012-08-13T02:08:02Z")
“DC Comics? I remember in an issue back in the 1960s Lois Lane had to take a ritual bath in a “kvimah,” which was just the Hebrew word for women’s post-menstrual purificatory bath, mikvah, with the letters rearranged. So the association has been set up in my mind: DC Comics\<–\>Hebrew speakers.”: Sorry if this is off-topic or breaking any sort of rules in relation to discussion conduct. Johanna, you speak of an issue back in the 1960s where Lois Lane had to take a ritual bath in a"kvimah" i.e. a Mikvah. Why? What was the story about? What happened that required Lois to do so? For the record, (forgive me if this is going off topic) yes, it is used by Jewish women for ritual purity after menstruation, as well as childbirth. It is also used for other reasons: Ritual purity for Jewish men after sexual intercourse or wet dreams. It is used as part of the traditional procedure for the conversion process to Judaism. It is used for utensils used for food. It is used in the purification procedure for bodies before burial. During consecrations of Jewish priests. It was used by the Jewish high priest on Yom Kippur (Jewish Day of Atonement) after sending away one of the sacrificial goats into the wilderness (symbolically, the goat was sent to die for the sins of the Jewish people over the past year), as well as by the man who leads away the goat. It was also used by the Jewish priest who performed the Red Heifer (Red (Heifer-young cow who has not even had a single calf to date) ritual. This was done to purify those who came into contact with a dead body. The Red Heifer was ritually slaughtered, burnt and the ashes were sprinkled upon the one who came into contact with the body. It was also used by one who came into contact with a grave or corpse, in addition to having the ashes of the Red Heifer sprinkled upon them. Eating meat from an animal that died naturally i.e. carrion was another reason to use a Mikvah/Mikveh. It is also customary to go to a Mikvah/Mikveh before Jewish holy days. The reasons are: 1. Ritual purity for Jewish women after menstruation or childbirth. 2. Ritual purity for Jewish men after sexual intercourse or wet dreams. 3. As part of the traditional procedure for the conversion process to Judaism. 4. For utensils used for food. 5. Purification procedure for bodies before burial. 6. During consecration of Jewish priests. 7. By the Jewish high priest on Yom Kippur (Jewish Day of Atonement), after sending away one of the sacrificial goats into the wilderness, as well as by the man who leads away the goat. 8. By the Jewish priest who performed the Red Heifer (Red young cow who has not even had a single calf to date) ritual. This was done to purify those who came into contact with a dead body. The Red Heifer was ritually slaughtered, burnt and the ashes were sprinkled upon the one who came into contact with the body. 9. After coming into contact with a corpse or grave, in addition to having the ashes of the Red Heifer sprinkled upon them 10. Eating meat from an animal that died naturally i.e. carrion. 11. It is also customary to go to a Mikvah before Jewish holy days. Do I understand this correctly: you are saying that there are people working at DC Comics who are Hebrew speakers? Once again: Sorry if this is off-topic or breaking any sort of rules in relation to discussion conduct. Also for the record reasons 6-10 are no longer in effect due to the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem. I have only given a basic summary of the reasons I have stated. There is more detail to them but I admittedly only know those basic details offhand. There are also other reasons but they were based on concepts which are not so easy to explain. Just saying, I don’t know every reason for the use of a Mikvah/Mikveh or the details for the ones I have stated. Just being honest in that I don’t know everything about what I’m saying but what I have stated is what I understand to be the truthful facts. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/22 "2012-08-13T02:27:39Z")
Hmmm…I thought “Ra’s al Ghul” was an old, dead, then reanimated Indian. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/23 "2012-08-13T18:47:54Z")
If I had a penny for everyone who snarked on a zombie thread… ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/24 "2012-08-13T19:14:08Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > If I had a penny for everyone who snarked on a zombie thread… …you’d be as rich as Bruce Wayne? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/25 "2012-08-13T19:21:10Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > In Russian, this Arabic word was borrowed to mean ‘one’ when counting. _Ras, dva, tri…_. Because the meaning ‘beginning’ can also be derived from ‘head’. I know this is a zombie thread, but this is not right. The Russian “counting” word is раз [trans. _raz_, pron. /ras/], “time, occasion,” which has a perfectly good separate Slavic etymology. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/26 "2012-08-13T20:06:42Z")
It’s not a zombie thread, it’s a thread that’s been resurrected. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/27 "2012-09-06T03:39:16Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I know this is a zombie thread, but this is not right. The Russian “counting” word is раз [trans. _raz_, pron. /ras/], “time, occasion,” which has a perfectly good separate Slavic etymology. I can get how “beginning”=1. I don’t get how “time, occasion”=1. > [@Jdogno1](#): > > Johanna, you speak of an issue back in the 1960s where Lois Lane had to take a ritual bath in a “kvimah” i.e. a Mikvah. Why? What was the story about? What happened that required Lois to do so? I don’t rightly remember, it was so many years ago. I think she and Superman were visiting an alien planet and they were going to get married and in the alien culture she had to do that ritual bath first, or something vaguely like that. Although when it comes to alien weddings, I guess I’d prefer the Betazoid version. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/28 "2012-09-06T03:59:27Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I can get how “beginning”=1. I don’t get how “time, occasion”=1. Think “[one] time, two [times], three [times],” basically “once, twice, thrice.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/29 "2012-09-06T08:10:04Z")
I looked up the reference (I don’t know if the asker is still reading)— _Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane_ #103 (1970) story: “[The Devil’s Bride!](http://www.comics101.com/comics101/?mode=project&action=view&project=Comics+101&chapter=257)”. My memory was slightly garbled. Lois is set to marry a space alien who looks like Satan, and he apparently transforms her into a she-devil too. In his alien culture, she has to take the bath called “kvimha” before the wedding. I also remember the [letter to the editor](http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jewishcomics/message/328) that revealed the Hebrew etymology: > [@](#): > > Dear Editor: > In issue 103, you show Lois bathing in the kvimha, the pre-marital bath > brides take on Nferino to purify themselves. Isn’t it funny that if you > unscramble the letters of “kvimha” you get the word “mikvah” which is the > bath Jewish brides must take before they are married so that they may be > purifeid? You know, “kvimha” sounds more Jewish than “mikvah”. > Steve Brown, Williston Park, N.Y. > > Maybe… but to us, that guy Satdev never seemed completely kosher. -E.N.B. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/30 "2012-09-06T08:23:04Z")
Oddly, the “Ras” is “Ra’s al Ghul” is also used to describe a bay, harbor or port. (“Headwater” I suppose is a related English term.) So “Ra’s al Ghul” could be the “Bay of Devils.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/31 "2012-09-06T08:30:42Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Oddly, the “Ras” is “Ra’s al Ghul” is also used to describe a bay, harbor or port. (“Headwater” I suppose is a related English term.) So “Ra’s al Ghul” could be the “Bay of Devils.” Not headwater. Head **land**. It’s used as the Arabic term for a geographical cape. “Where are we? In the foothills of the headlands” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105/32 "2012-09-06T08:54:09Z")
> [@Jdogno1](#): > > Do I understand this correctly: you are saying that there are people working at DC Comics who are Hebrew speakers? That there were Hebrew-speakers\* in DC in the '60s ain’t exactly news; what Johanna figured out (and she wasn’t the only one who did, as per her quote) is that the invented name for that invented bath is likely to have been suggested by one of them, playing on mikvah. - or at least, people who spoke enough Hebrew to know the word mikvah; they may not have been fluent in Hebrew. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ras-al-ghul-the-arabic-not-the-fiction/309105.md?page=1)